Sling Alternatives
Six tools to replace <em>Sling</em>, compared on the 30-user free cap, time clock costs and payroll, and when Sling is still the right call.
Homebase is the best Sling alternative in 2026 for most hourly teams that outgrow the free plan: it prices per location with unlimited employees, so a 30-person shop pays $30 a month on Essentials where Sling Premium costs $60, and it adds a time clock and payroll in the same account. Connecteam suits mobile and field teams, 7shifts restaurants that want tips and labor compliance, Deputy multi-site businesses that schedule around demand, When I Work teams that want simple per-user pricing with auto-scheduling on every plan, and Findmyshift teams that want one flat price per team.
Sling, now Sling by Toast, is a good free scheduler. People leave when they hit its 30-user cap, need a time clock the free plan does not have, or want payroll inside the scheduling app.
The ranking is editorial: a sponsored placement is always flagged on its card, and no affiliate link changes a score.
Why managers look past Sling
Sling is a shift scheduling and team messaging app, now branded Sling by Toast, from the restaurant point-of-sale company Toast. Managers build the week on a grid, employees see shifts and offer them to coworkers in the app, and a newsfeed carries announcements. Scheduling is free for up to 30 users; Premium adds a mobile time clock and labor costs, Business adds a kiosk, reports and PTO, and new accounts get a 15-day free trial of the Business features.
Before comparing, know how each app counts. Sling, When I Work and Deputy bill per user, Homebase and 7shifts per location, Connecteam a flat price for the first 30 users, Findmyshift a flat price per team. Here are the reasons Sling users start looking, each with the fact behind it.
The free plan stops at 30 users
No time clock without paying
Payroll sits outside the app
Annual billing keeps the seats you remove
Account changes only on the web, and app complaints
Homebase
Homebase is a scheduling, time clock and team communication app for hourly teams, with payroll, tip management, hiring and HR sold as add-ons or on higher plans. Managers build the week on a drag-and-drop grid, employees trade and claim open shifts from the app, and clock-ins on a phone, tablet or point-of-sale device become timesheets ready for payroll. For a Sling user, it keeps the same daily routine and replaces the per-user bill with a per-site one.
How the price reads against Sling: Homebase charges per location, with unlimited employees on paid plans, and a location is each separate physical address, even two shops in the same city. Sling charges per user: Premium is $2 per user a month, or $1.70 billed annually. A store with 30 staff pays Sling Premium $60 a month; Homebase Essentials, which includes advanced time tracking and team messaging, costs $30 per location, or $24 billed annually. The break-even sits at 15 users on monthly billing. Below 11 people in one location, the free Basic plan keeps scheduling and a basic time clock, where Sling's free plan has no clock at all.
Watch the add-ons. Payroll is $49 a month base fee plus $6 per employee paid after a free period (Homebase lists $29 a month for teams of up to 5), so 30 employees on payroll cost $49 + 30 × $6 = $229 a month; price that against small business payroll software. Tip Manager is $25 a month per location, and Basic keeps timesheets for 90 days only. The 6 months of free Plus and payroll is a limited-time offer that requires adding payroll; after it, Plus is $70 per location. For the whole category, see our best employee scheduling software ranking.
- Price per location, unlimited employees
- Free Basic plan with a time clock
- Payroll and tips in the same account
- ✓Half the price of Sling Premium at 30 staff
- ✓Time clock on phones, tablets and POS devices
- ✓Clock-in photos on tablets and POS devices
- ✗Each extra location is billed again
- ✗Payroll adds $49 base plus $6 per employee
- ✗Free Basic plan stops at 10 employees
| Criterion | Homebase | Sling |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing unit | Per location | Per user |
| Free plan | 1 location, 10 employees, time clock | 30 users, no time clock |
| Entry paid price | $30 per location a month | $2 per user a month |
Pick Homebase if your single store has more than 15 staff and you want a time clock and payroll without per-user pricing. Take another tool if you run many small sites, where a fee per location adds up faster than Sling's per-user price.
Connecteam
Connecteam is a mobile-first app for employees who do not sit at a desk. It is sold in three hubs: Operations (scheduling, time clock, forms, checklists, tasks), Communications (chat, updates, surveys) and HR and Skills (training, documents, time off). Each hub has its own price, so a Sling user who only needs scheduling and a clock buys Operations alone. Staff who move between job sites get GPS stamps on every punch, job-level timesheets and geofences on higher tiers.
How the price reads against Sling: Connecteam charges a flat fee for the first 30 users, then a small fee per extra user. Operations Basic is $29 a month billed yearly, $35 billed monthly, for up to 30 users. Thirty staff on Sling Premium cost $60 a month, or $51 billed annually, and $120 on Business, which is the Sling tier with a kiosk clock and reports. Forty staff on Connecteam Basic cost $29 + 10 × $0.80 = $37 a month billed yearly. Teams of up to 10 users get every hub and feature free on the Small Business plan, and teams of 11 to 30 can stay free on the Limited plan, with one time clock, one schedule and five jobs: a free clock up to Sling's own 30-user cap.
Tip: buy hubs, not plans. Adding Communications or HR and Skills to Operations doubles or triples the bill, and Sling users already get chat in Premium. Basic runs a single time clock; Advanced ($49 billed yearly) adds auto clock-out and up to 10 geofence sites, and auto-assigning shifts starts on Expert at $99. Past 30 users, each extra user costs $0.80 on Basic but $2.50 on Advanced, billed yearly, and an annual plan is refunded pro rata only if you cancel within the first 30 days. Our Connecteam alternatives page covers who outgrows it.
- Flat price for the first 30 users
- Free for up to 10 users, all hubs
- GPS clock, forms and checklists
- ✓Cheaper than Sling Business at 30 staff
- ✓Built for staff on the move
- ✓Pay only for the hubs you use
- ✗Pricing split across three hubs
- ✗Auto-assigning shifts from Expert up
- ✗Free 30-user plan keeps one clock and one schedule
| Criterion | Connecteam | Sling |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing unit | Flat for 30 users, then per user | Per user |
| Free plan | 10 users with every feature, or 30 on Limited | 30 users, no time clock |
| Field tools | GPS clock, forms, checklists | Geofenced clock on Premium, shift tasks on Business |
Pick Connecteam if your crew works across job sites and you want scheduling, a GPS clock and checklists for one flat fee. Take another tool if you run one restaurant and only need a shift grid, where Homebase or 7shifts fits more naturally.
7shifts
7shifts is a team management platform built for restaurants: scheduling, time clocking, labor compliance, tip management, payroll, training and a manager log book. It puts time clocks on tablets, computers, smartphones and POS devices, and sends tips to payroll. Sling now belongs to Toast, the restaurant point-of-sale company, and 7shifts is the alternative that speaks the same restaurant language: front and back of house, tip pools, shift feedback.
How the price reads against Sling: 7shifts charges per location, and each tier caps headcount. Comp is free for one location and up to 15 employees, with basic scheduling, one-way announcements and availability requests. Paid plans follow a team-size selector. For 1 to 30 employees, Essentials is $44.99 per location a month and Premium $134.99 with unlimited employees, billed annually ($49.99 and $149.99 monthly); for 31 or more, Pro is $89.99 for up to 60 employees and Premium $179.99, billed annually ($99.99 and $199.99 monthly). Some visits show a lower grid (Essentials $39.99, Pro $79.99): check your own account. For a 25-person restaurant, billed monthly, 7shifts Essentials costs $49.99 against $50 on Sling Premium; billed annually, $44.99 against $42.50. Same price, both with messaging and a clock: switch for the restaurant tools on higher plans.
Watch the caps: the 31st employee pushes you from Essentials to Pro, doubling the bill to $89.99, and labor compliance tools and PTO accruals are not in Essentials: they come with Pro or Premium. Payroll costs $39.99 per location plus $6 per employee paid, so 25 employees cost $39.99 + 25 × $6 = $189.99 a month, while Premium includes the base fee. Payroll plugs into paid plans only, not Comp. Tip Management is a $49.99 add-on per location below Premium. If you cancel, 7shifts bills the current month and stops there unless you signed a term agreement. Compare it with other picks in our restaurant scheduling software ranking, and see our guide to 7shifts with Zapier to connect it to other apps.
- Free Comp plan for 15 employees
- Tip pooling and labor compliance
- Restaurant payroll, base fee included on Premium
- ✓Made for front and back of house
- ✓Free plan includes basic scheduling and announcements
- ✓Month-to-month, no contract required
- ✗Headcount caps on each tier
- ✗No labor compliance on Essentials
- ✗Tip Management $49.99 extra below Premium
| Criterion | 7shifts | Sling |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing unit | Per location, capped headcount | Per user |
| Free plan | 1 location, 15 employees | 30 users |
| Restaurant tools | Tips, compliance, payroll | Labor cost vs sales |
Pick 7shifts if you run a restaurant or bar and want tips, compliance and payroll tied to the schedule. Take another tool if you run retail, healthcare or field teams, or if you sit just over a headcount cap.
Deputy
Deputy is workforce management software for shift-based businesses: scheduling, time and attendance, timesheets, labor law compliance and team messaging, with US payroll through a partnership with Paycor. Where Sling builds a schedule by hand on a grid, Deputy Core adds demand forecasting, labor optimization and advanced compliance, so a manager can staff each hour around expected sales or traffic. It is the usual step up when a Sling account spreads across several sites with tight labor budgets.
How the price reads against Sling: both charge per user, and Deputy costs more. On an annual plan, Lite is $5 per user a month, Core $6.50 and Pro $9, billed upfront or in monthly installments; billed monthly, they cost $5.50, $7.25 and $10, about 10% more. Thirty employees on Core cost 30 × $6.50 = $195 a month, against $51 on Sling Premium billed annually or $102 on Sling Business. Admins, managers and supervisors count as users, as they do on Sling, and monthly plans carry a minimum spend of $30 per invoice, so a team of four still pays $30. On a monthly plan, a user added or archived on any day is billed for the full month.
Watch the contract: on an annual plan you can add users, but you cannot change plans or lower the number of employees, and cancelling before the 12 months end brings no refund. Deputy Payroll, enabled by Paycor, is listed at $8 per user a month plus a $49 base fee, for US businesses on annual Core and Pro plans, and both fees vary by business size. If Deputy stops fitting later, our guide to switching from Deputy covers the exit, and our guides to Deputy with Zapier and Deputy with Make show how it connects to other tools.
- Demand forecasting on Core
- Labor law compliance on every plan
- US payroll add-on with Paycor
- ✓Demand forecasting and labor budgets on Core
- ✓Strong for multi-site operations
- ✓Labor cost visible while you schedule
- ✗About three times Sling Premium per user
- ✗Annual plans cannot be downgraded
- ✗$30 minimum on monthly plans
| Criterion | Deputy | Sling |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing unit | Per user | Per user |
| Demand forecasting | Core and Pro | Labor cost vs sales |
| Entry price | $5 per user a month, annual | $1.70 per user a month, annual |
Pick Deputy if you leave Sling because schedules must follow demand, labor budgets and compliance rules across sites. Take another tool if price is the reason, since Deputy charges about three times Sling Premium per user.
When I Work
When I Work is employee scheduling software for hourly teams: managers build schedules, with auto-scheduling included, employees swap shifts and clock in from the app, and the team chats without sharing personal numbers. Every plan includes scheduling, time and attendance with GPS clock-in, and team messaging, so there is no Premium or Business tier to pick. For a Sling user, it is the closest like-for-like switch: per-user pricing, a familiar grid, and a time clock bundled in.
How the price reads against Sling: both charge per user. When I Work is $2.50 per user a month for a single location or schedule and $5 for multiple locations or schedules. Twenty staff on one site cost $50 a month, against $40 on Sling Premium billed monthly or $80 on Sling Business, which is the Sling tier with a kiosk clock, reports and PTO. When I Work therefore beats Sling Business on price for one site, while Sling Premium stays cheaper if a mobile clock is all you need.
Watch the second site: as soon as you run two locations or two schedules, the account moves to the $5 plan for every user, so 40 employees go from $100 to $200 a month. There is no free plan after the 14-day trial, and payroll runs through a partner, Rippling, though new customers get 6 free months of Rippling payroll and HR. Our When I Work alternatives page covers the reasons people leave it in turn, and our guide to When I Work with Make shows how to connect it to other apps.
- Auto-scheduling on every plan
- Time clock and messaging included
- One price per user, no tiers
- ✓Cheaper than Sling Business on one site
- ✓No tier choice to make
- ✓Month-to-month or annual billing
- ✗No free plan after the trial
- ✗Multi-location rate doubles to $5
- ✗Payroll through Rippling, a partner
| Criterion | When I Work | Sling |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing unit | Per user | Per user |
| Time clock | Included in every plan | Premium and Business |
| Entry price | $2.50 per user a month | $2 per user a month |
Pick When I Work if you want Sling Business features on one site at a lower price, with no tiers. Take another tool if you run several locations, where its doubled $5 rate makes Homebase or Connecteam cheaper.
Findmyshift
Findmyshift is a web and mobile employee scheduler with a time clock, timesheets, time-off requests and shift reminders. Managers build the rota with drag and drop, copy and paste and shift templates, and employees clock in and out against their shifts. It is the plainest tool on this list, and it prices per team, not per user or per location.
How the price reads against Sling: a team is a group of employees managed by one or more managers, and the price stays flat up to the plan's cap. Starter is $27 a month for 20 team members and 1 manager, Business $43 for 100 team members and 100 managers, Enterprise $85 for 300, or $24, $38 and $75 a month paid yearly. Thirty staff fit on Business for $43 a month, against $60 on Sling Premium, and the same team at 90 people still pays $43, where Sling Premium would cost $180. The free plan keeps a time clock, but plans only 1 week ahead and keeps 1 week of history, for 5 team members and 1 manager. Charities and volunteer groups under $1M in turnover get an extra 25% off.
Watch the plan limits: Starter allows a single manager and 3 months of forward planning, payroll calculation and self-scheduling start on Business, and geofencing and location reporting only come with Enterprise at $85. Text reminders cost extra, bought as credits, while email and push notifications are free. A useful exit clause: you can ask for a refund of any remaining subscription at any time.
- One flat price per team
- Free plan with a time clock
- 3-month free trial
- ✓Flat $43 for up to 100 staff on Business
- ✓Time clock on every plan, free included
- ✓Refund of any remaining subscription on request
- ✗Starter allows a single manager
- ✗Geofencing only on Enterprise ($85)
- ✗Payroll calculation starts on Business
| Criterion | Findmyshift | Sling |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing unit | Per team, flat | Per user |
| Free plan | 5 team members, time clock | 30 users, no time clock |
| Entry paid price | $27 per team a month | $2 per user a month |
Pick Findmyshift if one manager group schedules 20 to 100 hourly staff and you want a bill that does not grow with each hire. Take another tool if you need geofencing below the $85 Enterprise plan or payroll run inside the scheduling app.
6 Sling alternatives compared
Scores are our editorial score out of 5, the plain average of five criteria: labor law and compliance, scheduling and shift swaps, time clock and payroll, value for money, and ease of use and app. The last column gives the monthly cost for a 30-person team on one site, on the cheapest plan with a time clock, which is where most Sling users start comparing.
| Best for | 30 staff, one site, with a clock | Free plan | Team size | Visit | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Homebase | Best overall Sling replacement | $30 a month (Essentials) | 4.4/5 | Basic free for 1 location and up to 10 employees; Essentials $30, Plus $70, All-in-One $120 per location per month ($24, $56, $96 billed annually) | ✓ | Single location | Visit → |
| 2 | Connecteam | Best for deskless and field teams | $0 on Limited (1 clock), $29 Basic billed yearly | 4.2/5 | Free for up to 10 users (all hubs), or free Limited plan for 11 to 30 users; Operations Basic $29 a month billed yearly ($35 monthly) for the first 30 users, then $0.80 per extra user ($1.00 monthly); Advanced $49 ($59); Expert $99 ($119) | ✓ | Field teams | Visit → |
| 3 | 7shifts | Best for restaurants | $44.99 billed annually (Essentials) | 4.2/5 | Comp free for 1 location and up to 15 employees; for 1 to 30 employees, Essentials $44.99 and Premium $134.99 (unlimited employees); for 31 or more, Pro $89.99 (up to 60) and Premium $179.99; per location per month billed annually ($49.99, $149.99, $99.99 and $199.99 monthly); some visits show a lower grid from $39.99 | ✓ | Restaurants | Visit → |
| 4 | Deputy | Best for demand-based scheduling | $150 on Lite, annual plan | 4.1/5 | Lite $5, Core $6.50, Pro $9 per user per month on annual plans, billed upfront or in monthly installments; $5.50, $7.25 and $10 on monthly plans, with a $30 minimum monthly spend | — | Multi-site | Visit → |
| 5 | When I Work | Best simple per-user upgrade | $75 a month | 3.9/5 | $2.50 per user per month for a single location or schedule; $5 per user per month for multiple locations or schedules | — | Small teams | Visit → |
| 6 | Findmyshift | Best flat price per team | $43 a month (Business), $38 paid yearly | 3.8/5 | Free for 5 team members; Starter $27, Business $43, Enterprise $85 per team per month ($24, $38, $75 a month paid yearly) | ✓ | One team, flat price | Visit → |
Prices in US dollars before tax. Sling for the same team: $60 a month on Premium ($51 billed annually), $120 on Business ($102 billed annually).
Is your tool missing from this page? Email us: hello@hackceleration.com
You're leaving Sling because... take this
Unlimited employees for $30 per location a month on Essentials.
You need a time clock without paying per headConnecteamFree Limited plan with one time clock for up to 30 users; Basic is $29 a month billed yearly.
You run a restaurant and want tip pooling7shiftsTip management and labor compliance built for restaurants.
Schedules must follow sales and labor budgetsDeputyDemand forecasting on Core, $6.50 per user on an annual plan.
You want Sling Business features for less on one siteWhen I WorkClock, scheduling and messaging for $2.50 per user.
You want payroll in the scheduling appHomebasePayroll add-on at $49 base plus $6 per employee paid.
Your headcount keeps growing inside one teamFindmyshiftBusiness is $43 a team a month for up to 100 staff.
How to choose a Sling alternative
Employee scheduling software replaces the spreadsheet or the printed rota for hourly teams. It works in a loop: the manager builds the schedule from staff availability and time-off requests, employees get it on their phone and offer, swap or pick up shifts, they clock in against their shifts, and approved hours become timesheets for payroll. Sling's free plan covers the first half of that loop; the paid tiers and every alternative here cover the clock and the timesheets, and differ on how deep planning goes, how strict the clock is and whether payroll lives in the same account.
Learn the units before comparing prices. A user is any profile in the account: on Sling and Deputy that includes admins and managers, so 1 admin, 2 managers and 17 staff make 20 billed users, and on Sling deactivated or deleted profiles drop out of the count, so archive former staff before each bill. A location is a physical address: Homebase bills each one again, 7shifts too, and both cap or open headcount per tier. A schedule, on When I Work, is a separate rota: two schedules at one site already trigger the multi-location rate. A team, on Findmyshift, is a group of staff and their managers: Starter allows one manager, so a Sling account with 2 managers needs Business. Then demand, before you sign: a mobile app your staff will open, shift swaps with manager approval, a clock tied to scheduled shifts, overtime and break alerts for your state, and a payroll export that matches your provider. HR suites such as Paycor and Paylocity, which several guides list, are bought for payroll first and suit a company replacing its payroll provider more than a team replacing a free scheduler. For automation, see our guide to Sling with Make if you stay, and our timesheet software ranking if hours matter more than shifts, or our time and attendance software ranking if the clock itself is the priority.
Trap: the headcount cap that forces the next tier
Trap: annual seats and minimum spend
Tip: pause instead of cancelling
Also considered: ZoomShift, Jibble and Planday
- Count billed users, admins and managers included
- Time clock on the plan you will actually buy
- Shift swaps with manager approval
- Overtime and break alerts for your state
- Payroll add-on or export that fits your provider
- Monthly billing for the first season, annual once headcount is stable
Sling alternatives, your questions
Does Sling have a free trial?
Yes. New accounts get a 15-day free trial of the Business features, so you can try the kiosk clock, reports and PTO before paying. To keep a monthly paid plan after day 15, an admin adds a valid credit card, and each month is then billed in advance and is non-refundable.Can I get a refund on a Sling annual plan?
Only in the first month. If you cancel annual billing within the first month, Sling refunds the remaining time in the billing cycle. After that, you can cancel immediately or at the end of the year, but unused time is not refunded, and a mid-year downgrade from Business to Premium brings no refund or credit either.Can I switch Sling from annual to monthly billing?
Not on your own. Sling offers no way to switch in the interface: you have to ask your account representative. Monthly billing suits changing teams better, because a user you remove is credited on the next month's bill for the unused days, where the annual plan gives no credit.How do I cancel Sling?
An admin or manager cancels from the web version, not the mobile app: click your name, choose Account, open the Billing tab and cancel. A payment already processed for the month is not refunded, and you keep paid access until the end of the billing cycle. Check that the Dashboard shows a cancellation notice, or it did not go through.What happens to my data if I close my Sling account?
It is lost for good. Closing the account disables it immediately, and the account and its information cannot be recovered afterwards, so export your timesheets and reports first. Cancelling a paid subscription is different: it only takes the account back to the free version of Sling.Does Sling have auto-scheduling?
Yes, but only on Business, at $4 per user a month or $3.40 billed annually: its auto-assigning feature lets Sling assign shifts automatically. Free and Premium accounts schedule by hand, with shift templates on Free and reusable weekly schedule templates on Premium.What is the best free alternative to Sling?
Connecteam, if you need a time clock: its Limited plan is free for life for teams of 11 to 30 users, with 1 time clock, 1 schedule and 5 jobs, and its Small Business plan gives every feature free to 10 users. Homebase Basic is free for 10 employees at one location with basic time tracking, 7shifts Comp for 15 employees at one location without a clock, and Findmyshift Free for 5 team members, with a clock but only 1 week of forward planning.How do I move my employees and schedules out of Sling?
Export everything first, because a closed Sling account cannot be recovered. The Employee button on the Dashboard exports your staff list as an XLS file with names, IDs, positions and locations; the schedule exports as CSV or XLS by day, week or month, with custom ranges of up to 124 days on Premium and Business; and Reports > Payroll exports hours as CSV or XLS. Then import the staff file into the new app (Connecteam takes a CSV template), and cancel Sling once the new schedule is live.What happens when an alternative's free trial ends?
It depends on the tool. Homebase moves you to its free Basic plan, unless you have more than 10 employees or more than one location, in which case it asks you to choose a paid plan. 7shifts lets you continue on the free Comp plan or subscribe, and the account expires if you do neither. Findmyshift keeps all your data and upgrades the trial account in place.
